Science Fair

We began back in Term Two by looking at a science concept that was broad enough to be explored through many facets of science (physical, biological, chemical, technical)

The big Idea that we selected was ‘the total amount of energy in the universe is always the same but energy can be transformed when things change or are made to happen’

We worked on consolidating what energy was and what it can do and thinking about where it comes from – chemical, heat, water wind, solar, electrical, nuclear…etc

The skills and understandings we were working on developing were
· Identifying, describing and measuring the transfer of energy
· Explaining phenomena in terms of flow of energy.
· Focusing on direct experience and observation of phenomena and materials.
· Introducing the way objects change and beginning to recognize the role of energy in these changes.

Science rotations were developed in kitchen chemistry, physics, robotics, gardening and science through sound (music). We also ran optional workshop series that explored potential and kinetic energy through dance. Provocations were set up to engage students in experiments based on potential and kinetic energy during learning agreement times.

Students began to demonstrate an understanding of Kinetic and Potential energy and the various types of energy.

We then introduced the concept that allowed the students to relate work to force and distance and characterize the relationship between work and power. The introduction of these concepts built on from the understandings introduced in previous weeks and extended the knowledge of scientific language. We began heading towards the notion of conversion (energy changing one form to another) and that energy is neither created nor destroyed (linking back to the big idea).

Students demonstrated their understanding of Kinetic and Potential energy by putting together their science investigations through an experiment of their choice. We were looking for transference of reading and writing skills (procedural text) within the presentation. We were also looking for transference of skills in writing a conclusion. The conclusion students wrote helped to determine the sophistication of thinking around the concepts of energy. These can be found in the children’s portfolios. Explicit targets around making statements and following this up with reasons/evidence were held.

In term three we looked to provide opportunities for students to explore their own interests in the inquiry of energy. We wanted them to select their own experiment, to determine their own process of exploration and to create their own provocation. We also wanted them to explore possibilities of sharing their own discoveries in different ways. We decided to encourage students to step into the shoes of a scientist when looking at their experiments. They were provided with science briefs to give guidance on these expectations.

The big idea that we decided to explore was.

What are the discoveries in energy that have made a real difference in our world?

We began with a research phase where the emphasis was on finding out that there is reasons behind why scientists go about making discoveries that are connected to the needs of societies. Students were involved in conferencing with a teacher to demonstrate that they had sufficiently researched the discovery, the scientist, considered aspects of teamwork and their ideas on what lead to the discovery.

As a teaching team we decided to select working groups for the students to extend their interpersonal skills through working with a range of others who were not in their friendship group. The teams were mostly mixed gender, age and interests. This raised issues of cooperation and collaboration, equity of workload and roles and engagement, all of which we challenged groups to manage themselves.

The second phase of the inquiry was to increase understanding of the science fair idea through the planning and advertising of the event (plan, roster, proposal of how we advertise it, radio announcement) Students worked out the logistics including how many tables were needed, what the space could look like etc. Students began exploring the concept of a Science Fair through a variety of mediums of expression, including radio advertisements to promote the event, SketchUp, MineCraft and mathematical processes to work out the logistics and possible layout and physical diagrams. Much of this was conducted alongside explicit targets in shared reading and writing with a mini inquiry into advertising. Mathematically we explored number concepts such as arrays (table set up) either as repeated addition or as multiplication for those ready to work with this concept.

The third phase focused around creating an experiment or demonstration and being able to explain, as a group how that experiment would help the visitors to the expo/ fair, understand what their learning was about and how it connected to the discovery they were investigating. Where ever possible teachers would model the idea of the documentation of process before, during and after the demonstration/ experiment. We needed to be explicit about what a scientist would do if something did not work. For safety reasons, scientists would go back and analyse the reasons for the failure and re-plan the experiment (children were mostly changing the variables without analysis). Students mostly elected to do this by filming what they were doing in stages.

Students devised a list of possible questions about content, process and teamwork. They practiced their delivery and the presentation of their learning through conferencing of the different stages of the brief with a teacher. Conferences focused on the teamwork aspect of the group also. We have focused on reflection as a genre, processing writing through a series of drafts based on reflections of working within their group. This has been placed in the portfolio but many students have included this in their individual booklets. Students around the various phases of the inquiry completed self-assessments and teacher conferencing documents are also available for viewing in individual inquiry booklets.

Here are some photos of the Science Fair day.